


Bowties, Snow, and Handcuffs

by Independence1776



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-01
Updated: 2013-05-01
Packaged: 2017-12-10 03:50:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/781439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Independence1776/pseuds/Independence1776
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I don’t know if there’ll be snow, but have a cup of cheer. And some other things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bowties, Snow, and Handcuffs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leiascully](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiascully/gifts).



> Many thanks to my beta [](http://elleth.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**elleth**](http://elleth.dreamwidth.org/) and my Britpicker [](http://spiced-wine.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://spiced-wine.livejournal.com/)**spiced_wine**. Happy Holidays!

This was going to be his best Christmas ever. Not that it was hard to do. The Doctor shook his head and concentrated on piloting. Sexy would probably cooperate, given who and why.

Definitely cooperate, he discovered when he looked at the screen after She materialized. He scurried to the door and opened it to find his wife-- his _wife_ (he would never get used to that)-- standing on the other side, a grin on her face and diary in hand. “What's the occasion? You normally arrive at night.”

The Doctor stepped aside and let her saunter into the TARDIS. He closed the door and trailed behind her to the console. “Christmas.”

River spun around, tossing her overly large purse and her diary onto one of the seats, her holly green dress' skirt swirling around her knees. “You've been keeping track of the days!”

The Doctor pulled the dematerialization lever. “Of course! And it's your parents first Christmas after Utah as well. I thought--”

River smiled fondly. “You wanted a family Christmas.”

“The three of you deserve it!”

“So do you, Doctor.” River stepped closer to him, fingering the plunging V-neck of her dress. In a rather sultry tone, she said, “We're still in the Vortex, sweetie.”

The Doctor stepped back-- fighting the urge to, well, have sex-- and gestured at the controls. “I… I thought you could fly Her. You're more accurate than I am.”

River grinned and moved to the console. He leaned against the railing to watch her fly. She handled the TARDIS differently than he did-- more precise, more controlled. And at this point in her timestream, with awe.

Which lasted all of thirty seconds, as River raced for the door the instant the TARDIS materialized. The Doctor followed slightly more sedately and reached the open door in time to see Amy fling her arms around her daughter. The Doctor stepped into the Pond's snow-dusted garden and Rory smiled at him. “Happy Christmas, Doctor.”

“Happy Christmas, Rory.” The Doctor gestured at the two women. “Um, I wasn't planning on us staying. All of us, I mean. I thought we'd celebrate elsewhere.”

Amy released her daughter. “How far elsewhere? Rory and I need to be back here by eleven. That's when my parents arrive.”

River smiled. “I'm piloting.”

Rory breathed a sigh of relief as Amy asked, “What do we need?”

“Yourselves,” the Doctor said. “Everything you need is in the TARDIS.”

“Not the gifts,” Rory said, heading inside their house.

River raised her eyebrows at the Doctor. “I thought you hadn't told them we were coming.”

“I hadn't!”

Amy smiled and leaned against the TARDIS. “We bought them just in case.”

“Pond--”

“Oh, hush you. We guessed River would probably drag you here.”

River laughed and followed Amy into the TARDIS. “That's a wonderful idea. I'll have to do it sometime.”

The Doctor shook his head in fond exasperation and went to help Rory with the packages.

* * * * *

River landed the TARDIS neatly and precisely where the Doctor had planned a space for her. He opened the door and stepped into the log cabin, just to make sure nothing had happened in the few minutes he'd been gone. The decorated Christmas tree was in the far corner, next to the currently unlit fireplace, holly garlands on the mantle and over the door, and the table set for Christmas dinner. He started the fire with his sonic screwdriver, turned around, and said, “You can come out now.”

Amy was the first one out the door. She stopped, causing River to nearly run into her. Amy slowly moved aside. “This is wonderful, Doctor.” Her eyes widened as she moved behind him. “Is that snow?”

Rory joined his wife at the window. “Quite a bit of it.”

The Doctor grinned. “About a meter, actually. It isn't Christmas without snow, and this is more than you’d normally have.”

River wrapped her arms around the Doctor. “You romantic. What else do you have planned?”

“Christmas dinner. Goose, Christmas Pudding and custard--”

Amy turned around. “It had better be Earth goose. Are you _sure_ you know how to cook it?”

The Doctor frowned. “I'm over eleven hundred years old, Pond. I'm sure I've cooked goose before.”

Rory muttered, “That doesn't help much.” Louder, he said, “You do have a meat thermometer?”

“In the kitchen, in the drawer next to the oven. Yes, Rory. My plan is to make my family ill on Christmas.”

Amy laughed. “So what now?”

River said, unwrapping her arms from the Doctor and sauntering over to the TARDIS. “Presents?”

“Works for me,” Rory said.

Amy followed River into the TARDIS, and they both came out with packages. Well, Amy did. River came out holding her bag, and pulled presents out of it when she sat down on the hearth rug, skirt pooling around her. The Doctor and Rory settled on the couch facing the fireplace while Amy sat next to River. “No presents from you?” she asked.

He shook his head and waved at the cabin. “This is it. One week, no invasions, alien attacks, megalomaniacal humans, or anything bad. Snowed in, a cabin in the woods. I can't give you anything better.”

Rory smiled. “You've done enough for us already, Doctor. A house?”

The Doctor smiled a bit, looking down at his hands. “Yeah.”

Amy spoke up. “Who wants theirs first?”

River said, “I do.”

Amy handed her a rectangular box. “It's from both of us.”

River carefully opened it, trying not to tear the green paper. The Doctor leaned forward and tilted his head when River pulled out a photo album. She placed it in her lap and slowly opened it, tears forming in her eyes as she flipped through the pages. Even from his angle, the Doctor could see it was full of pictures of Mels and her parents. Rory said, “We didn't think you had any. So…”

River looked up, brushing away the tears with her free hand. “I didn't. I…” Rather than speaking, she leaned over and hugged her mother before standing to hug her father. The Doctor didn't say anything, a little choked up himself.

Once River sat down again, Amy cleared her throat to get everyone's attention and handed a nearly identical box to the Doctor. He tore off the wrapping and stared in gleeful shock when he opened the box. It was stuffed with bowties-- novelty, solid colored (even one TARDIS blue), striped, and patterned. He grinned and pointed at her. “I _told_ you bowties are cool.” He grabbed a black one with a holly pattern and put it on, dropping his old blue one into the box. “So how do I look?”

Rory said, “Ridiculous. But we love you anyway.”

The Doctor chuckled. “Thank you, Ponds.”

But he glanced over at River, who was holding a small square box in her hands.

“Mother?”

Amy glanced at the Doctor. “Just something I thought you needed.”

River raised an eyebrow, and Rory just looked confused. But River grinned when she opened the box. She tilted it toward the sofa and the Doctor's mouth went dry. Rory groaned and looked at his wife. “There are some things you just don't want to know about your daughter's bedroom activities.”

But the Doctor ignored him, and Amy's gleeful laughter. Tan leather handcuffs… He shook his head. He could fantasize-- hell with the fantasizing, she could _use_ them on him-- later. River closed the lid and put the box on her far side. Out of sight was definitely _not_ out of mind.

After River had handed out her presents-- a selection of perfume oils from different planets for Amy to use in her growing business, a nursing text from the thirty-second century for Rory, and lifetime passes to several galaxy-famous museums from different time periods for the Doctor-- Amy declared she was going outside to build a snowman. Rory joined her, but the Doctor begged off. “I need to start cooking.”

River smiled. “I'll stay inside and help. Don’t worry, Father. I’ll make sure he uses the thermometer.”

The Doctor pointed at her. “We don’t need it yet, River. And if you’re so worried about it, why don’t _you_ use it?”

River patted his arm and swept around him into the kitchen. “I will, sweetie.”

They prepped the goose to shrieks of laughter from outside. The Doctor glanced out of the window to see Amy and Rory engaged in a snowball fight. After the goose was in the oven, the Doctor plopped onto the sofa, with River curled up next to him. He put his right arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the fire crackle and her parents outside. River quietly asked, “Did Gallifrey have anything like this?”

“Every planet does, at midwinter,” the Doctor said, even softer. “But like this, with presents and feasts and family? No. Well, the family part. But none of the rest. We weren't exactly what you'd call casual.” He smiled faintly. “Father was a bit looser than Mother-- he took me stargazing on occasion. But midwinter had lost most cultural significance for those who lived in Time Lord society. It was just one of the few times where a meal with family was expected.”

“And you never measured up?”

The Doctor guffawed. “I was a bit of a troublemaker, yes. But I'm glad you didn't know me immediately after I left. I was… uptight.”

River turned her head and kissed his cheek. “I know, sweetie. Kidnapping Ian and Barbara?”

“I saw them again when Martha and I were trapped in 1969.”

“I'm fairly sure they had things to say to you.”

“Oh, they did. Mostly, though, they were glad to see me again.”

River snuggled closer. “See? I know I have a hard time getting it through your thick skull now and then, but you _are_ worth it. You told Emperor Churchill that your friends have always been the best of you. So why don't you believe us more?”

The Doctor sighed, memories of myriad horrible days of bad decisions, monsters, and battles running through his head. Sometimes, he wondered why anyone dared to befriend him. But following those were memories of those who had: his assistants, his companions-- his friends. They helped him become the man he was now, from a crotchety grandfather to teacher and surrogate father to best friend. And they still cared for him despite and through everything. “I'm trying.” He looked around the room-- at the Christmas tree, out the window at the too-purple-to-be-Earth sky and the snow mounded on the sill, the occasional shriek from the Ponds, the smell of cooking goose and wood smoke. “I like having a family again.” He looked down at the woman he held in his arms. “And you, River Song, are a large part of it.”

She smirked up at him. “Are you going to show it to me?”

He leaned down and thoroughly kissed her. “The goose won't need to be checked for at least another hour, and your parents aren't likely to come in anytime soon.”

River pulled herself upright, smoothed her dress when she stood up, and sauntered toward the TARDIS. The Doctor scrambled to his feet and nearly tripped over them as he grabbed the box with the leather cuffs. River chuckled and wrapped an arm around his free one when he reached her. “Sure you're up for it, old man?”

The Doctor grinned. “Definitely.”


End file.
